Blood & Treasure: Observations From the Final Three Episodes

Episode 11 entitled “Raid on the Hidden Fortress” aired on September 18, and the synopsis for that episode was “Simon tries to get information out of Lexi, who in turn learns Khan’s big plan. Father Chuck discovers the mole at the Vatican and follows him to Hong Kong.”

Episode 12 entitled “The Year of the Rat” aired on September 25, and the synopsis for that episode was “The pieces of the Kahn’s end-game fall into place as Danny and Lexi must put their differences aside in order to stop the Kahn and Simon before it’s too late.”

Episode 13 (the finale) entitled “Showdown in Hong Kong” aired yesterday, October 2, and the synopsis for that episode was “Realizing they’ve taken the Kahn’s bait – and putting the lives of millions in jeopardy – Danny and Lexi come face-to-face with the Kahn in one final battle above Hong Kong.”

Rather than point out “The Good,” The Bad” and “Additional Thoughts” for these final three episodes, I’m just going to briefly recap what went down as the series came to an end for the season.

In Episode 11, we saw Shaw give up the Golden Tiger to Vince and little Hahn, saw Shaw get back into character as his British persona, and watched as Danny and Shaw infiltrated the Great Khan’s fortress in a bid to rescue Lexi. The look on Shaw’s face as his ghost army worked their magic as he and Danny hit the fortress was palpable and quite comical as well; he was so in his element. We also got to see Lexi escape from Violet’s prison (her hanging from the ceiling had to be quite painful) with an assist from Simon, who then gave Violet Chuck’s name as Kate’s contact at the Vatican. This revelation caused Chuck to be taken by some of Violet’s horde upon his arrival in Hong Kong where he was going to follow the Cardinal. The sheet with the alpha numeric reference (as decoded by Lexi) led Danny and Lexi to Germany where all hell seemed ready to be unleashed as a global cyber-attack – all orchestrated by Violet – got underway. It was also unsettling to see the hooded figure in the worldwide video viewed on every screen as he/she stated that only the descendants of Genghis Khan would survive the explosions that supposedly would release a bio-weapon.

RELATED: Blood & Treasure

In Episode 12, it seemed that Germany (and the world, for that matter) was preparing for the worst [not that dissimilar from the early days of the pandemic, I might add], but Lexi kept telling Danny that the situation didn’t feel right. Lexi was positive that there was something else happening. Soon enough, they figured out Violet’s actual intention: she was performing a worldwide heist that would garner her $1.5 trillion (yep, that’s with a T). Meanwhile, Shaw was able to rescue Chuck from Violet’s horde, and that meant the team was FINALLY reunited to take down Violet and her horde. The heist led Danny and Lexi (along with Shaw) back to Arthur Chan, the guy who believed he secretly owned the real Spirit Banner. Chan was having an extravagant party for the Chinese New Year that had our trio all dressed up in an effort to not only stop Violet but also to get the real Spirit Banner – that now contained a remote access tool, a “rat” (convenient since it was the year of the rat). That rat would allow Violet to easily rob the world of its money that was desperately needed for the global panic that she created; a panic that was nothing more than misdirection (just like how Genghis Khan created misdirection in his time). In the end, though, Danny and Lexi [along with Simon] are taken in by the local police and Shaw finds a nuclear bomb buried in the tunnels located below Chan’s office building [the same tunnel used by Lexi and Violet earlier in the season when they stole the (albeit fake) Spirit Banner from Chan’s office].

In Episode 13, it all came down to a face-off in more ways than one with Violet. First, the team had to convince the Hong Kong police about what Violet was actually doing; and more importantly, who she actually was. The cops, of course, didn’t believe them, then put them in the sub-basement as Violet and her horde hit the police headquarters in order to get the real Spirit Banner [and in essence get the remote access tool] back. After taking out all the cops, Violet was intent on retrieving the Spirit Banner from the safe where the cops placed it, but Simon beat her to it. And, what’s more, Simon tricked Violet into admitting her true identity as the Great Khan, but he allowed her to take the Spirit Banner. As she raced through the crowd, who was celebrating the Chinese New Year, with the Banner in hand, Danny and Lexi were racing after her. They figured out that her only way out – before the nuke went off – was by using the helipad at the building of the family for whom Violet used to serve as nothing more than slave when she was a child. That helipad was the final showdown between Danny, Lexi and Violet that caused Danny to be shot twice in the chest by Violet, Violet then nearly beat Lexi to death and where Lexi was able to get the upper hand against Violet, killing her with the very Spirit Banner that was the driving force of the entire season. Just before that big showdown fight, though, Simon flew away with Violet’s exit helicopter and the “rat.”

While it appeared that Danny might be lost forever because of that momentary white screen image, it was soon revealed that Danny survived his injuries, was fighting for a second chance for Shaw – aka Dwayne Coleman – and that he and Lexi were finally happy together as husband and wife. It was also revealed that Reece had left Danny a HUGE amount of money, and that Chuck was possibly a part of Vatican Intelligence because he knew that all the money from Violet’s heist had been returned (well, almost all of it).

In the end, everyone got a happy ending – even Simon who was shown to be in Costa Rica with $10 million dollars from Violet’s heist (the money that conveniently wasn’t returned). Ironically, for those really paying attention, the name on Simon’s passport was Guy Baltar (a “clever” play on his character’s name in Battlestar Galactica: Gaius Baltar); and when asked what he did for a living, he simply answered, “I find things.”

Finds things, indeed.

Blood & Treasure has not been renewed for a third season, and rumor has it that season two will be the show’s last. Series lead Matt Barr will be seen in the prequel series Walker: Independence that will debut on The CW this Thursday, October 6. We can only hope that the powers that be will give the show a third chance, as there is still plenty of story that could be told.

Please share your thoughts on the final three episodes; and more so, your thoughts on the second season overall. We’d love to hear what you have to say!

Also, you can rewatch season 1 and season 2 of Blood & Treasure on Paramount+.